Hands On: Asus ROG G501

The newly launched Asus ROG G501 is one interesting gaming laptop. Measuring 20.6mm thin and weighing a mere 2.06kg (which is considerably light for a gaming laptop), Asus wants to make gaming on the go that much easier. To find out if the company’s latest offering is any good, we had a quick hands on session with it.

At first glance, the G501 looks very sleek and minimalistic; a very refreshing design than the usual aggressive looks of a gaming laptop. That being said, the red accents of the laptop reminds you that it is still a gaming machine. The aluminium chassis of the G501 gives it a premium touch, but the fact that it is very prone to fingerprint marks is slightly annoying.

Aesthetics aside, the lid of the G501 is nice and secure (only requiring one finger to open), and inside of it, the aluminium palm rest area is very nice to the touch. The backlit keyboard has a pretty standard layout – other than the smaller numpad keys – and it’s an okay keyboard to type on, mainly because I wish the keys had more travel to it.

In other aspects, the display of the G501 is a nice matte panel that gets pretty bright at maximum brightness, which should make it ideal for outdoor use. The trackpad, on the other hand, detects my fingers accurately, and it gives a rather nice tactile feedback when clicked on.

Okay, so the G501 is one fine laptop, but is it light and slim enough for the travelling gamer? Honestly, I reckon it’ll be portable enough only to certain individuals. Yes, it’s a lightweight and slim machine, but the fact that it is a 15.6-inch laptop doesn’t make it very portable. That being said, with a good laptop bag, I don’t think I’ll have any issue travelling around with it.

Asus definitely designed a very handsome looking gaming laptop. The ROG G501 doesn’t have the typical aggressive looks of a gaming laptop (which is a plus point in my books), and it’s also a light and slim machine. However, seeing how it’s a 15.6-inch laptop, it’d be interesting to find out if this display size would prove to be a cumbersome aspect. In any case, I can’t wait to review it; the G501 shows a lot of promise.